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Friday, May 7, 2010

Ryan Wittman Named Sun Athlete of the Year

For one winter season, Ithaca wasn’t only showering precipitation. Instead, it became more common for it to be raining threes –– an occurrence that became so regular that it might as well have been this athlete’s signature tagline. But beyond constantly successfully shooting three-pointers during some of the most pivotal games in Cornell basketball program history, senior forward Ryan Wittman did so much more, warranting him the title of Athlete of the Year.

Wittman’s career success that places him amongst the top athletes in university history trace back all the way to his first season here. Named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2006-2007, he started off on the right foot as he set two new school records –– one for most freshman points scored, and one for the most 3-point field goals made in a single season with 93.

“I remember his first game as a freshman against Northwestern University, which we won,” said former head coach Steve Donahue. “He made 18 points in the game and said to me after that he didn’t feel he played well. That said a lot to me –– as his first game as a freshman, he didn’t feel he played well! I knew at that point that we had a special player.”

His accomplishments did not stop after his rookie season, but instead continued to grow through his next three years here. He earned countless awards and honors in every season, including unanimous selection to the First-Team All-Ivy in each his sophomore, junior and senior years.

This year, he averaged 17.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists and made a new mark with a 109 3-point field goal Ivy League record. He made a record of points in a single game with the 34 he scored against LaSalle –– a game the Red played down two senior starters, guard Louis Dale and forward/center Alex Tyler. As he helped take the team to the NCAA Sweet 16 round, he was named an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American and was the third-ever Cornell athlete to earn the Ivy League Player of the Year distinction, and that too unanimously. The list goes on, seemingly endlessly.

“What he provided statistically for the team is obvious,” Donahue said.

However, what makes Wittman stand out beyond just being a talented player in numbers is what he brings to the team as a person –– both on and off the court.

For example, when Wittman came to Cornell, he already was pretty familiar to the professional setting of basketball with NBA coach Randy Wittman for a father and was set up to get a lot of attention right from the beginning.

“The guys appreciate that he gets so much attention but never let it get in the way of the team. He’s great at being one of the guys, both on and off the court, and he’s very respected,” Donahue said.

Senior tri-captain and center Jeff Foote agreed with Donahue’s sentiments, expressing how Wittman is like a brother to him and the rest of the team and that these close bonds definitely improved team chemistry on the court to help them to success.

“He kind of led by example, and he did what he does very well and consistently,” Foote mentioned, but added that he always did so with humility and is just a good person to be around.

Donahue’s praise for Wittman in the personality department was almost as infinite seeming as the list of awards the athlete holds.

“Ryan is someone who probably could’ve scored a lot more points if he was a selfish person, which he isn’t. He understood that we needed him to score and needed him to be a player in every aspect –– he needed to rebound, defend, find the open man, etc. –– and he was able to do this in addition to being a good scorer, further making him a good basketball player,” Donahue said. “It was an incredible privilege to coach him. I enjoyed every moment of it; he’s coachable, a great kid … I know I may never get to coach another player like him.”

Going into the 2009-2010 season, Wittman knew that the team had a goal in mind and he and the team worked tirelessly until the team made it there.

“After going into [the NCAA tournament] the previous two years, we really put it upon ourselves to work hard to get where we wanted,” Wittman said. “And we made it very far and had a great time and a lot of fun while doing so.”

In order to be a good leader of a team going to such heights, Wittman stated that he would attempt to be a leader by example, always putting in much effort in practice and never really taking time off. In terms of his threes, Wittman would change up his game slightly each year since his rookie season and would put in extra effort over the summer to make sure that his game was not lacking.

“A lot of credit for my success goes to my teammates,” Wittman added. “Playing together and playing team ball with them has really helped my own game … Louis Dale and Jeff Foote deserve [the honor of Ivy League Player of Year] just as much as, if not more than, me because they would always be working offensively and defensively all over the court and making my job easier. If Foote’s getting double-teamed leaving me an open shot, it makes things easy.”

Wittman hopes that in the future he can play professionally. He’s been working both individually and playing pick-up games with the other guys on the team in attempts to play for the NBA. If not, he will look over to Europe to see if he can play there. Regardless of where he goes, though, Wittman has clearly planted his legacy in Cornell athletics as a great leader, athlete, teammate and all-around person.

Jeff Foote said it best: “Ryan Wittman is a fantastic guy and he has an endearing smile.”

The Sun has an absolutely stunning slideshow of the top 25 senior athletes of the year, though. Lou, Witt, and Foote look great. The entire slideshow is amazing just for the quality of the photos; I don't even know any of the other 22 athletes but I went through the slideshow twice.

I wonder if the Daily Sun reads these comments. I really hope they take them as constructive criticism and do not react as defensively as some of their supporters. We really do want to read good stuff about our great athletes.

I have a friend who works for the Sun, and she was complaining about how whoever was in charge of webbing stories on the last night of publication accidentally webbed the unedited version of this story. Maybe consider re-posting the updated article now that it's been edited online?Also, I'm told Foote's quote at the end was an inside joke between the guys and the Sun sports editors. Seeing as how this was the last feature of the semester, they figured why not have some fun with it.